Getting your spouse up to speed on operating the stove

I came home tonight to the air intake all the way open on our Progress Hybrid. My wife had left it open after loading it full and closing the cat (at the correct temp). The stove top temp was 650 when I got home. It ran like that for a couple of hours, and I don't know if it got hotter than that. It's a warm night (55 degrees when I got home at 8:00) so it really called for the stove to run low and slow. This isn't the only time she's not paid enough attention to the stoves. (Tonight's distraction: a gallon of milk that leaked in our fridge and needed a good deal of cleanup.) I'm concerned that some day she's going to really over fire one of our two stoves. We've only had them for a year, and they were a big investment for us.

I can't relate to her having a hard time with keeping an eye on the stove because I'm on it like fleas on a dog when I'm home. For my wife, I've printed out instructions for her with pics to help. I plan to have her run the stove this weekend while I'm around to get her some practice. I'll talk to her about an alarm for each stove, to check on stove top temp, say ten minutes after loading and then after engaging the cat.

Any other suggestions guys and gals?

 

You may have gotten away with it since it was warm out and draft was weaker. I think there are some thermocouple setups with alarms that you can set to desired parameters. Pocket timers or cell phones with alarms are useful, but they have to want to use them. Women in general, from what I've seen, tend not to be machine nerds like some of us guys are, so it's an uphill battle. My wife realizes it's important to me, so will make the effort. She could run the stoves in a pinch but I generally take care of them. I'll have to work on her some more....

 

My wife does pretty good with it now but we also had no other form of heat when we first got the stove so it was learn or freeze. I did come home one day to find she had purchased an electric space heater and abandoned the stove We got it straightened out though. She does not mind running it as long as I get it going in the morning and take over as soon as I get home from work now that we have a new heatpump I am afraid that she will get slack on the stove towards the end of the day which shouldnt be to bad I guess. Usually I will text her on my breaks to see how the stove is doing and always before we start burning we go over everything together such as general running of the stove and maintenance and also most importantly safety. I think that emphasizing the financial investment that yall have in the stoves will help, a gallon of milk spilled all over the place is a lot cheaper than replacing any of the parts or the whole thing on either of your stoves. Also how is your wood? Is it seasoned good or a little wetter? I have found that the more seasoned my wood is the shorter amount of time I have to spend with the stove on a reload.

 

Get an ip camera such as the Samsung model and watch from your phone, tablet or pc. It has a 2 way mic and speaker so you can talk to the wife.

 

First and foremost, she has to want to learn about it. She may not be the fanatical hoarder that you are used to dealing with when it comes to wood stove operations! She probably doesn't view "learning the burning 101" as a serious and precise endeavor as the rest of us. There-in lies the problem.
I think if I'm correct on this, she may not take well to the idea of installing cameras and microphones.

 

Youre not supposed to tell her about the cameras and microphones thats part of the fun

 

You hit the nail on the head there and it really hits home for me! I don't want my wife even touching the stove until she shows sufficient interest to learn how it works and why there are certain steps to follow. It was a bit frustrating to teach her how to operate our old stove only to have her reload the stove without bypassing the cat. In my case it isn't a big deal since I am home to run the stove and I enjoy that being one of my duties.

 

People say cat stoves are more complicated but with my IS all you have to do is reload, wait until probe thermometer hits 500, and then close bypass and turn down the air.

 

Text Her reminders.

 

Last night, my wife expressed an interest in operating the stove. My plan is to show her how to load and operate the stove and then let her run it a few times each weekend. I find that when teaching her something like this, it's best to leave her alone and just monitor the stove once in a while. My main concern is her getting burned, which is bound to happen. She loves fire and making them, so she should do well.

 

$4 kitchen timer from WM.

 

Burndatwood:

I read your post out loud to my wife - it was a GREAT post. I'm lucky that my wood stove tending spouse is very concerned about over firing but she never quite gets the knack or the feel of the stove without constant guidance over the phone year after year. I'm just grateful she tries. You are fortunate it's hard to over fire the Progress, it is a very forgiving stove.

My recommendation is first to sit her down nice and gentle and explain the consequences of over firing a stove, but I am sure you already have.
Second: Get one of these, worth every penny. You need to order a probe as well:

Universal Thermometer [AT100] - $41.50 : auberins.com, Temperature control solutions for home and industry

You should come to the pig roast tomorrow and have the WS guys train her!

 

Honestly, I think complaining about one's spouse on a public forum is sad. It seems that your wife with four young children has plenty to preoccupy her without tending your wood stoves too. I say, be quiet and give her a break.

 

I'm going to say he's not complaining. Not sure where you get that from. He's not nagging about her not bringing in wood, he's ensuring their house doesn't burn down. I'd say that's a legitimate concern. Secondly he's trying to find a solution that will work for the both of them utilizing the collective knowledge of a lot of people who potentially know more about the subject than he does. I'd also say that since he's asking on a mostly public forum he's open to suggestions from women who are living the same thing his wife is. I doubt he wants or needs you chastising him. Then again a public forum does allow for anyone to answer so you gotta separate the wheat from the chaff in some cases. The only sad thing in this post is you jumping on him for trying to find a solution to a legitimate problem. Feel free to add something beneficial to the thread instead of your useless criticism.

 

I have run into the same situation too, air wide open and a roaring fire...and I'm just as much to blame, I have walked away from a reload many times and forgot to come back to cut the air and engage the cat. Once the season gets going I usually get a system down and things run smooth after that.

 

I second this post and think kermit4 needs a time out. The OP has a legitimate concern and is reaching out to the correct audience for a solution to a problem.

PS My wife agreed with my post.

 

Um, so I'm supposed to learn to be kind from your unkind post?

I wasn't complaining, my wife is an amazing homeschooling teacher for our four kids, I'm just looking for tools to help her remember the key steps to keep the stove from over firing. And it worked, as there have been a bunch of good suggestions. She likes running the stove, and I am out of the house some days for twelve hours or longer, meaning she has to reload.

 

Yup, you're right, we all make mistakes. I'm still learning about how to properly run both stoves, and as I learn I'm trying to keep her up to date too. I know she's not paying attention though when she tells me "you look so cute when you're talking about the stoves."

 

Yes, it is a legitimate concern and of course not limited to your wife (or any female / male) but all of us who burn wood. The fact is that burning wood requires a certain amount of attention, which I think we are all guilty of not applying at one time or another but there is a second problem- how much is really 'too much'? Personally, I would not use stove top temperatures to regulate the max. burning rate of a stove but rather the exhaust stack (internal) temps.

So in the end, I think that is the best achievable solution: and exhaust temperature monitor with an alarm. I am currently using a four channel temperature monitor / recorder which has alarms on all channels (inside the firebox before combustor, the combustor output, the stove top and the exhaust stack at the chimney thimble) but honestly, the only two I really have an active alarm set are the combustor temp (which is actually the stove inside / top temp. when the bypass is in the open position, and that alarms at 1,400F) and the exhaust stack, which alarms at 750 F. And of the two, the exhaust is the far more important. And it is set low enough at 750F that when it does go off it is not any kind of dangerous situation as the exhaust could easily exceed 850F safely and probably even more, it is merely there to get someone's attention that the stove needs attention. Put another way, when the alarm trips, no one in my house panics in the least I do stop whatever I am doing and 'tend the stove'.

I would suggest putting a thermocouple into the smoke pipe and coupling it to a readout / alarm device. Others have posted about a single channel device that is pretty reasonable in cost. The four channel device I use is not all that expensive really at around $150 or so but the thermocouples are extra and do require installation, which does require drilling and tapping some places on the stove and the stove pipe to mount them. The great news is that it really helps one to learn what the stove is doing and how to burn not only safely but efficiently.

I may be able to put together something resembling a kit if enough people are interested. ?? I can post photos of my setup and show how it is accomplished so you can see if it is even something you would be interested in installing and using.

Brian